Ogygia

Ogygia (Greek: Ωγυγίη or Ωγυγία), is a phantom island mentioned in Homer's Odyssey book 5 as the home of the nymph Calypso, the daughter of the Titan Atlas. Ogygia may be associated with the Ogygian deluge or with the mythological figure Ogyges. On Ogygia, Calypso detained Odysseus for seven years, keeping him from returning to his home of Ithaca. Athena complained to Zeus, who sent the messenger Hermes to Ogygia to order Calypso to release Odysseus. Calypso then allowed Odysseus to build a small raft and leave.

Historical accounts

Polybius proposed that Schería and Ogygia were located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. His writtings did not survive, however his theory survived through Strabo's account.

The Odyssey describes Ogygia as follows:

Plutarch also gives an account on the location of Ogygia, in his work Concerning the Face Which Appears in the Orb of the Moon, chap. 26.

The "great number of currents" can also be identified as the Gulf Stream currents. The description of the "great continent surrounded by sea" could possibly refer to America, which accordingly should be approximately 5.000 stadia or 900 kilometers from Ogygia.

Later interpretations sometimes identify Ogygia and Phaeacia with sunken Atlantis. Roderic O'Flaherty used the name as a synonym for Ireland in the title of his 1685 Irish history. Some Maltese patriots, seeking to present the Maltese archipelago as the residue of Atlantis, identify Ogygia with the island of Gozo, the second largest island in the archipelago.

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